Is it 63 or 64? Comelec asks party-list group’s stand on number of seats

Commission on Elections. File photo.

MANILA, Philippines — Party-list groups have been asked by the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) to provide their position papers on various issues like the number of seats that should be allocated.

That is after an organization’s legal counsel remarked that 64 seats, not 63, should be made available.

Before the NBOC adjourned its session on Thursday evening, a representative of Philreca party-list said that their computations have shown that instead of the initial declaration of 63 seats, 64 seats should be allocated to party-list groups in the 20th Congress’ House of Representatives.

The NBOC is tasked to count votes for the senatorial and party-list race in the 2025 midterm elections.

“Your Honor, this afternoon 5.37 p.m. Philreca party-list filed a manifestation with motion regarding the proclamation of the full number of party-list seats.  Yesterday, your Honor there’s a clarification from the Chairman that there are 63 party-list seats,” Philreca party-list’s lawyer told the board.

“According to our computation your Honor, with all due respect we believe that the seats has to be 64, and it is contained in our motion Mr. Chair.  We ask that this be resolved, Mr. Chair, before the end of the canvass,” the lawyer added.

In response, Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairperson George Garcia who is heading the NBOC asked the groups to submit until noon of Friday their grievances and suggestions.

“To representatives, lawyers, and counsel of party-lists, maybe it’s proper now that we request you to submit your position papers on several issues pertaining to the party-list.  Number one issue, whether it should be 63 or 64, those who wanted to submit so that we could consolidate everything, so that we may no longer be conducting oral argumentation on this issue,” Garcia said.

“Number two, as to who should be entitled to the seats, and how is the entitlement to three or two seats be computed, that’s very important based on existing correspondence and the practice of the Commission on Elections.  And likewise, and other issues that may affect the allocation of seats by the National Board of Canvassers,” he added.  “ So you are given until noon tomorrow to submit to the secretariat all your position papers concerning these particular issues.”

READ: Akbayan leads party-list race in partial, unofficial results

As of 5:32 p.m. of Thursday, Comelec’s partial and unofficial count shows that Akbayan party-list currently leads the party-list race with 2.77 million votes or 6.66 percent of votes.  Below Akbayan are the following groups:

• Duterte Youth – 2.32 million votes/ 5.61 percent
• Tingog – 1.78 million votes/ 4.36 percent
• 4Ps – 1.46 million votes/ 3.51 percent
• ACT-CIS – 1.23 million votes/ 2.97 percent
• Ako Bicol – 1.07 million votes/ 2.57 percent
• Uswag Ilonggo – 776,842 votes/ 1.86 percent
• Solid North Party – 764,433 votes/ 1.83 percent
• Trabaho – 671,067 votes/ 1.61 percent
• Cibac – 593,398 votes/ 1.42 percent

While the number of party-list seats available in the 20th Congress will not matter to these groups, it may be important for other groups at the lower end of the count.

Earlier, the NBOC instructed the secretariat to start crafting and sending invites to the winners of the senatorial race, as the releasing committee already has a copy of the following documents:

• National tally sheet for the senatorial race
• National tally sheet for the party-list race
• National tally sheet for the party-list race by rank
• National tally sheet for the senatorial race by rank

Garcia directed the secretariat to turn the documents to the supervisory committee so that it could recommend when the winning candidates can be proclaimed.  Garcia said they prefer the candidates to be proclaimed by Saturday.

However, Garcia said that the date of proclamation for the party-list race has yet to be determined because there are still concerns regarding the seat allocation.

“We will proceed to the proclamations of the twelve winning senatorial candidates by Saturday, the secretariat is hereby directed to issue the corresponding letters of invitation to the 12 winning senatorial candidates, and likewise for the supervisory group to recommend to us the exact date when the proclamations of the leading party-list groups, organizations, and parties will be held,” he said.

READ: Bayan Muna party-list not disqualified from May 12 polls – Comelec

“But then immediately the national board of canvassers has decided to proceed first with the proclamations of the leading candidates for senators by Saturday, in the event that is the recommendation of the supervisory group,” he added.

Earlier, Comelec released two canvass reports containing the partial and official tally, as the NBOC continues to process the COCs sent to its database.

The NBOC receives and tallies results from the COCs, or the aggregated, final, and official count of votes for the senatorial and party-list race.  The COCs come from provinces, highly urbanized cities, local absentee voting, and overseas absentee voting.

For the senatorial race, the partial and unofficial tally shows that Senator Bong Go is still at the lead, with 26.91 million votes.

Behind Go are the following candidates:

• Former Senator Bam Aquino – 20.85 million
• Senator Ronald dela Rosa – 20.59 million
• ACT-CIS Rep. Erwin Tulfo – 17.06 million
• Former Senator Kiko Pangilinan – 15.29 million
• Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta – 15.14 million
• Former Senator Ping Lacson – 15.06 million
• Former Senate President Tito Sotto – 14.75 million
• Senator Pia Cayetano – 14.51 million
• Deputy Speaker Camille Villar – 13.57 million
• Senator Lito Lapid – 13.33 milion
• Senator Imee Marcos – 13.25 million / MR